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Sources for Sick Child Care in 24 USAID Priority Countries

Both the public and private sectors are important sources of care for sick children, and their role varies across contexts and socioeconomic statuses. Understanding if and where sick children are taken for care is critical to improve case management interventions. This brief presents a secondary analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data from 24 of the 25 USAID maternal and child survival priority countries to examine where treatment or advice is sought for sick children who experienced at least one of three treatable illnesses: fever, acute respiratory infection, or diarrhea. These illnesses represent some of the leading causes of death in children under five years old.